Temporary structures are commonly used in a wide range of industries and for a wide range of purposes. Typical uses of such temporary structures include, for example, providing access and work spaces for work on such structures as buildings, bridges, large storage tanks, dams, large machines, such as trains or ships, and so on, and the work may range from construction, modification or refurbishing of all or part of such structures to the demolishing of such structures. Uses of such temporary structures may further include, for example, the providing and support of an enclosure to protect the structure being worked upon from the environment, such as protecting a bridge being repainted or a building being constructed, or the workers and work processes, from rain, snow, sand, dust, winds and so forth. Such enclosures may also serve the reverse purposes, that is, providing and supporting an enclosure to protect the environment from by-products of the work being done within the enclosure, such as solid or liquid toxins, dust, spray and various forms of debris. In other instances, such a temporary structure may comprise the desired structure in itself, such as a short or long term warehouse, sports venue cover or any other desired form of shelter.
Temporary structures of this nature have been and are presently built in a number of ways, all of which have proven unsatisfactory for one or more reasons. For example, temporary scaffolding and framework structures have commonly been built from bamboo or wood, such as 2×4s, tied or nailed together. While the wooden structures and in particular the bamboo structures are relatively light in relationship to their weight and are comprised of relatively strong individual components, that is, 2×4s and bamboo stalks, their strength is limited by the inherent properties of the materials and they tend to be excessively flexible because a required relatively large number of joints are necessary due to limitations on the available lengths of the materials. Also, the joints and connections in such structures, which are typically fastened rope, twine, cord or nails, tend to be weak and excessively flexible and, as a result, tend to rotate about the joints. Such measures as are typically taken to make the joints in such structures stronger and more rigid, however, such as bolts or clenched nails, rapidly increase the cost and construction time of the structures, as well as the time required to disassemble the structures. Another disadvantage is that though the materials tend to be cheap and readily available the component elements are generally not readily reusable in subsequent structures, typically having been cut to specific sizes or damaged in use, thereby further increasing the costs of the structures.
Temporary structures have also been constructed from modular iron or steel piping sections fastened together with large metal pins or with bolts. While this type of structure is generally stronger and more rigid in both the elements and joints, and while the elements are typically reusable, the cost of the structure will be significantly greater. Also, the elements and resulting structures will be significantly heavier and will be correspondingly more difficult, complex and time consuming to transport, assemble and disassemble, and will often require a wide variety of different component elements as the individual elements are not readily modifiable to specific needs. Other implementations of such structure systems may use somewhat different materials, such as aluminum or plastic, and may use a variety shapes for the component elements, at least some being optimized for specific requirements, such as strength and weight or to provide a specific configuration, they have all been found to suffer from one or more of the above discussed disadvantages.
The requirements of a satisfactory system for temporary structures comprised of modular common components that are capable of rapid deployment and of subsequent rapid modification and disassembly and removal and that are capable of meeting a wide range of purposes are straightforward but are difficult to satisfy. For example, it is desirable that the components of a temporary structure system be of light weight and high strength, that the number of different types of component parts be limited, that the connecting elements be strong, rigid and inflexible, and that the components allow a structure to be configured to meet virtually any need, including enclosed structures having protective or containment properties. It is also desirable that the structural system thereby be capable of providing relatively light weight, strong, relatively rigid structures that are relatively simple and easy to transport and that will allow rapid assembly, modification and disassembly of the structures. It is also preferable that the structural materials be readily available and relatively inexpensive and that the components of the system be readily reusable, thereby significantly reducing the costs of any structure built by the system.
The modular temporary structural system of the present invention as described herein below provides solutions to these and other problems of the prior art.